1980 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1980 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the New York Islanders in their first-ever Finals appearance and the Philadelphia Flyers in their fourth Finals appearance, (the first since 1976). The Islanders would win the best-of-seven series four games to two to win their first Stanley Cup and the third for a post-1967 expansion team after Philadelphia's Cup wins in 1974 and 1975. Road to the Final The New York Islanders defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3–1, the Boston Bruins 4–1 and the Buffalo Sabres 4–2 to advance to the final. The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3–0, the New York Rangers 4–1 and the Minnesota North Stars 4–1 to make it to the final. The Series In game one, Denis Potvin scored the first power-play overtime goal in Stanley Cup Final history. In game six, Bob Nystrom scored the Cup winner in overtime, his fourth career overtime goal, at the time putting him alone behind Maurice Richard's six on the all-time overtime goal-scoring list. Ken Morrow joined the team after winning the Olympic gold medal and added the Stanley Cup to cap a remarkable season. In the United States, the first five games were syndicated by the Hughes Television Network. Hughes used CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada" feeds for the American coverage. Game six was televised in the United States by the CBS network, as a special edition of its CBS "Sports Spectacular" anthology series. This would be the last NHL game to air on U.S. network television until 1990 when the All-Star Game was televised on NBC. As of 2015, it is also the last Stanley Cup Finals game to be played in the afternoon (earlier than 5:00 local time). The deciding game six was marred by one of the most infamous blown official calls in NHL playoff history. With the game tied 1-1, the Islanders Butch Goring picked up a drop pass from New York left wing Clark Gillies which had clearly gone back over the Flyers' defensive zone blue line into center ice. Linesman Leon Stickle waved the play as safe and Goring threaded a pass to right wing Duane Sutter who beat Philadelphia goalie Pete Peeters for a 2-1 New York lead. The Flyers argued vehemently to no avail. The Flyers defense and Peeters appeared to relax as if play had been blown dead once the puck went over the blue line. Flyers captain Mel Bridgman stated the play changed the momentum of the game at a critical time even though the Flyers scored shortly afterwards to tie the score 2-2. Stickle admitted after the game that he had blown the call. The series-winning overtime goal in game six was scored by Bobby Nystrom and assisted by fellow third liners John Tonelli and Lorne Henning. Nystrom's redirection of Tonelli's cross ice pass from just above the Flyers left side face-off circle, floated up and over goalie Pete Peeters' blocker before the Philadelphia keeper could slide over to stop the puck. Henning's "thread the needle" pass was a key component, of the goal. New York Islanders: 1980 Stanley Cup Champions Roster Centres *10 Lorne Henning *11 Wayne Merrick *14 Bob Bourne *16 Steve Tambellini *19 Bryan Trottier *21 Robert "Butch" Goring Wingers *8 Garry Howatt *9 Clark Gillies *12 Duane Sutter *17 Alex McKendry† *22 Mike Bossy *23 Bob Nystrom *27 John Tonelli *28 Anders Kallur Defencemen *3 Jean Potvin† *4 Bob Lorimer *5 Denis Potvin (Captain) *6 Ken Morrow *7 Stefan Persson *24 Gord Lane *26 Dave Langevin Goaltenders *31 Billy Smith *1 Glenn "Chico" Resch Coaching and administrative Staff *John Pickett (Chairman/Owner) *Bill Torrey (President/General Manager) *Al Arbour (Head Coach), Bill MacMillan (Asst. Coach) *Jim Devellano (Chief Scout), Gerry Ehman (Western Scout) *Harry Boyd (Scout), Maurice Sabageno (Scout) *Ron Waske (Trainer), Jim Pickard (Asst. Trainer) *Steve Corais (Director of Public Relations)^ Stanley Cup Engraving *†Alex McKendry played two regular season and six playoff games, but did not play in the finals. *†Jean Potvin played 32 regular season games, but did not play in the playoffs. Both names were engraved on the Stanley Cup, even though they did not officially qualify. *Ken Morrow became the first player to win the Olympic Gold (with Team United States) and Stanley Cup (with New York Islanders) in the same year. *^-Steve Corais (Director of Public Relations) was included on the team, but his name was left off the Stanley Cup. *Al Arbour became the 4th person to win the Stanley Cup with 4 different teams. Arbour won the Stanley Cup as a player with Detroit 1954, Chicago 1961, and Toronto 1962. 1964. The other 3 people to win cup with 4 teams are Jack Marshall, Harry (Happy) Holmes and Tommy Gorman. *Anders Kallur and Stefan Persson were the first two Swedish born-trained players to win the Stanley Cup. They were also first two European trained players to win the Stanley Cup. *Bryan Trottier was the first Mites born player to win the Stanley Cup. Category:Stanley Cup Finals Category:New York Islanders Category:Philadelphia Flyers